In English law. Certain letters of the king, sealed with his great seal, and directed to particular persons and for particular purposes, which, not being proper for public inspection, are closed up and sealed on the outside, and are thence called “writs close.” 2 Bl. Comm. 346; Sewell, Sheriffs, 372. Writs directed to the sheriff, instead of to the lord. 3 Reeve, Eng. Law, 45.